There Is a Line I Will Not Cross

Posted by
Dr Snyder
on May 20th, 2016

May
20

Sometimes I think that if I had another life to live on this earth after this one, I would choose to follow my musical inclinations. I really love music and, at various times, have taken piano lessons, achieved first-chair trumpet status in my high school band, followed by learning how to play the guitar.

All of those “talents” have fallen into disuse over time, but I have music playing constantly when I drive, both Christian and “secular.” I put secular in quotes because really good music is from God, regardless of the intent of the writer of the song. He gives mankind the ability to create it.

Some songs combine insightful lyrics with a tune that stays with me. A prime example for me is one titled “There Is a Line,” sung by Susan Ashton. The first time I heard the lyrics, I was gratified by the solid philosophical understanding of where Christians need to be in their response to the decaying culture around us.

The song begins with this:

It’s hard to tell just when the night becomes the day
That golden moment when the darkness rolls away
But there is a moment none the less

In the regions of the heart there is a place
A sacred charter that should not be erased
It is the marrow; the moral core that I can not ignore

The second stanza continues the theme:

Ask the ocean where the water meets the land
He will tell you it depends on where you stand
And you’re neither right or wrong

But in the fathoms of the soul that won’t ring true
Cause truth is more than an imposing point of view
It rises above the changing tide
As sure as the morning sky

The chorus then zeroes in on the stance a Christian must take:

Within the scheme of things
Well I know where I stand
My convictions they define who I am
Some move the boundaries at any cost
But there is a line, I will not cross
No riding on the fence – no alibis
No building on the sands of compromise
I won’t be borrowed and I can’t be bought
There is a line, I will not cross

Those words resonate in my soul: my convictions define who I am; I won’t be borrowed and I can’t be bought.

There is a line I will not cross.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the song, have a listen.

Find your moral core in Christ. Don’t be bought. There is a line we never should cross.